Mechanical chest stimulation as a physiotherapy aid.

In patients with lung disorders there is often a build up of mucus inside the lungs which in healthy people is normally removed by the action of cilia on the lung tissue surfaces. In the diseased lung, however, this clearance mechanism may be ineffective and so patients are offered physiotherapy in order to assist the mucus removal process. The consequences of not properly removing the mucus are impaired lung function and a much higher risk of contracting lung infections and suffering consequent permanent scarring of the lung tissues. If unchecked the latter leads ultimately to failure of the lungs and to the patient's death. The most common forms of chest physiotherapy used are percussion coupled with postural drainage and an active cycle of breathing. This requires the patient to lie head downwards on an inclined surface, so that gravity might assist the mucus removal process, whilst the physiotherapist strikes the patient's chest with the hands. The procedure is interspaced by periods of 'huffing and coughing' by the patient to remove the loosened sputum from the body. An alternative to the manual percussion described above is to use machinery to provide the stimulus to the chest. If such a procedure were found to be satisfactory then it would enable more patients to manage their own physiotherapy, may make the required duration of the physiotherapy sessions shorter, and would free much of the professional physiotherapists' time to enable them to assume more of a physiotherapy management role.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)